Some 2,200 years after the historic rebellion against the Greek tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes IV who sought to oppress the Jews and forcibly prevent them from observing the Torah, a coin bearing his name and image was unearthed at the Temple Mount rubble archaeological site in Jerusalem, (top image, front and back shown).The site was established nearly ten years ago, after the Moslem Wakf illegally excavated soil from the Temple Mount and discarded it in a nearby ravine. Following strong protest by concerned citizens, including Israel's top archaeologists, Gabi Barkai and Zachi Zweig, two archaeologists, had the many tons of refuse moved to another site where they began conducting a scientic dig in an attempt to recover remnants of the Holy Temple possibly buried in the refuse. To date, their dig, conducted with the help of thousands of volunteers has unearthed invaluable artifacts from the second Temple period.A second, no less startling discovery took place at the same time when a fourteen year old volunteer working at the site uncovered a silver half-shekel piece, of the kind described in the book of Exodus, (30:11), and collected among the children of Israel throughout the entire Holy Temple era, for the purpose of funding the public daily offerings at the Holy Temple. The newly discovered half-shekel was minted at the Holy Temple itself, (bottom image, front and back shown).To view 2nd Temple remnants uncovered previously, please click here. To learn more about the The Temple Mount Antiquities Salvage Operation, please click here.